Concept Cars

German luxury auto marques have been waging an all-out technology war, working overtime to beat each other to the punch in areas like autonomous driving and infotainment. A smaller but still notable theater of the war pits the brands against each other in developing high-tech lighting solutions. After mastering LED technology, BMW and Audi raced last year to release the world's first production car with laser lighting, and now they're set to battle it out in OLEDs. Audi will launch the latest offensive in September, when it reveals its first OLED Matrix-equipped concept car.

There's nothing like putting your foot down in a powerful car to raise your heart-rate – and a new Lexus concept car can demonstrate exactly that. Working with M&C Saatchi, Lexus Australia has rigged up a one-off RC F V8 coupe so that its paintwork flashes in time with the heartbeat of a person inside.

Flying-car developer Terrafugia has released new designs for its planned TF-X
model. The TF-X is a planned autonomous flying car that was announced back in 2013. The new design shows a sleeker body shape, a one-tenth scale model of which will be tested in a wind tunnel at MIT.

The original Lamborghini Gallardo is a mesmerizing and eminently collectible piece of automotive art. The work of Luc Donckerwolke, Lamborghini's head of design, its sweeping lines, aggressive stance, and stylish good looks made it instantly recognizable as an Italian luxury supercar. But Donckerwolke, ever the designer, aimed to wring even more outrageous looks from the Gallardo when he tinkered with his original blueprints to produce the Gallardo S concept; a radical, split-cockpit roadster that thrilled at its first showing in Geneva in 2005. Now, after nearly a decade in the hands of one owner, this Italian sportscar icon is going to auction.
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With low profiles, origami-like angles, and razor-sharp contours, the wedge-shaped supercars of the 1970s were the epitome of outrageous automotive style. Whilst the likes of the Lamborghini Countach, the Lotus Esprit, and the BMW M1 were the on-road embodiment of this ethos, the Maserati Boomerang concept car that preceded them took this style to the limit. Now, more than 40 years after it made its first appearance, this one-off automotive icon will be offered for sale by auction.

It seems like Toyota sent a case of whatever it was drinking last week over to Mercedes UK. In a development every bit as weird as the Lexus hoverboard, Mercedes has designed a Smart Forfour-based train. That's right, a four-seat Smart mini-train. It's called the Smart Forrail, and while no one's all too sure why it exists, it does. Or at least it did briefly.

Honda's much-delayed NSX and tiny S660 have this year marked the firm’s first venture back into the world of mid-engined cars since the first-generation NSX and Beat of the 1990s – and these patents hint that there may be more to come.

Automakers like to kick off the summer season by letting their hair down and creating playful one-off builds that get down and party. In 2012, Nissan broke out the Juke Box rolling sound system, and last year Volkswagen brought the noise with the Amarok Power pickup. Nissan is back at it again in 2015, plugging the party in with a specially equipped e-NV200 electric van built to make cocktails, pump bass and provide an augmented reality experience.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles joined the likes of Infiniti,Peugeot and a slew of other automakers this week, revealing its Vision Gran Turismo video game car. Like all those parties before it, FCA took full advantage of the opportunity, creating an outright extreme hypercar with a level of performance that can only exist in a game. The single-seat SRT Tomahawk sports car develops nearly 2,600 hp from a hybrid powertrain with V10 and air compression drive.

Revealed at this year's Geneva Motor Show, the Audi R8 e-tron is already a technological tour de force. Its combination of battery-powered range and speed is equalled only by the Tesla Model S. At the inaugural CES Asia show, Audi made the R8 e-tron even more high-tech, rolling its autonomous driving suite into the electric coupe. The R8 e-tron piloted driving concept can unleash 456-hp worth of performance on the street ... without a driver stepping on the pedal.